Questions tagged [clay]

Fine grained mineral component of soil. Lots of clay can cause a soil to be heavy and sticky.

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39 votes
6 answers
17k views

How do I work with soil that has a high clay content?

The clay content in my garden soil is rather high. Tilling it is a royal pain, especially if there is even the slightest hint of moisture in the soil. It just turns into big sticky clumps instead of ...
gnovice's user avatar
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16 votes
4 answers
20k views

How do I improve drainage vertically through clayey soil?

I live on a hill where the soil has lots of clay. My back garden has been terraced with small (1m) retaining walls. The net result is that we have several lawns / gardens with the following ...
John Fouhy's user avatar
16 votes
3 answers
776 views

How should I improve my extremely clayey soil?

I live in North Carolina and the soil here has an extremely high clay content. I have used soil conditioner that consists of composted pine fines to amend the soil. It does an excellent job of ...
ncmathsadist's user avatar
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21 votes
7 answers
123k views

How can we grow grass in our heavy clay yard?

My wife and I have been living in a new subdivision for the past two years and have been struggling with getting grass to fully take in our backyard. Our front yard is sod and has been doing fine, but ...
Kevin O'Shea's user avatar
19 votes
3 answers
3k views

How should I till topsoil into thick clay in small garden beds?

My house is in an area where the native earth is basically solid clay. This means that wet or dry, you can't dig with a shovel and get crumbling dirt — it always clumps together, unless you ...
Nicole's user avatar
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14 votes
3 answers
513 views

What plants take easily to clay soils?

I live in central Scotland, which is a bit damp, and the soil in my garden, despite years of aerating, adding sand etc is still quite a thick clay soil. When it is sunny I get sun all day long, so ...
Rory Alsop's user avatar
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6 votes
2 answers
585 views

Should I do a soil test before or after amending soil?

I want to plant blackberries, raspberries, and a vegetable garden in the heavy clay soil in my backyard. So, I plan to heavily amend it by spreading 3" expanded shale and 6" of compost and working ...
Philip's user avatar
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4 votes
1 answer
107 views

Dead Dogwood post-mortem: How to ensure these next plants do better in clay

This question is accompanied by this previous question... Did my Dogwood die because it was planted with wire around the roots? So clearly my two dead Dogwood trees didn't do so hot in clay. The ...
maple_shaft's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
98 views

RE: Missouri Clay - how well will day lilies (Hemerocallis fulva) grow in this mixture of soil?

My yard contains a good amount of Missouri clay and I would like to plant some day lilies; will they survive/thrive in thick soil like this? Also, do they do well in direct sun or shade and what type ...
Gryphoenix's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
251 views

Garden space in a basement with dirt space

My house was built in 1952 and the basement was dug out from under the house at a later date. The way they did this left a perfectly sized (approximately 12"x40", about 4' from the floor) ...
rm-vanda's user avatar
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